


Cracked

by kateavalanche



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Dollhouse-verse, F/M, Get-Together Fic, Mind Control, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-11-25 21:30:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kateavalanche/pseuds/kateavalanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dollhouses in Wonderland are nothing like those in the Looking Glass World - except in one respect.  Neither has any use for a broken Active, or as they're known in Wonderland, a cracked Diamond.  When Alice starts to show signs of this, she'll need every imprint she's ever had, as well as a Tea Shop owner, a White Knight, and a rebellious prince to save both her world and herself.  (Prior knowledge of either show's plots not vital to comprehension)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As this is essentially a reworking of the plot of SyFy's Alice, there is some Alice/Jack for the first few chapters. But rest assured, the Alice/Hatter is coming!   
> Also, since I can't bear to demonize any of the characters, everyone gets a chance to speak. If you really hate Jack or Walrus or someone and dislike seeing them humanized, this fic isn't going to be your cup of tea.

            "Did I fall asleep?"

            "For a little while."

            "Should I go now?"

            "If you like."

            Wide blue eyes blinked and her mouth formed a vague, trusting smile.  She neatened her white apron and straightened the bow in the back before stepping out of the room, barely registering her surroundings anymore.  Dormie wasn't offended when she glided out of the room without so much as a, "good day," for him.  All of the Diamonds were like that - vacant, docile, eerily content and biddable.  That was the whole point.  He merely tracked her path down the stairs and out into the side garden until the last flash of her soft blue dress vanished from sight.

            "Anything unusual?"

            Dormie jumped at the sudden interruption of his thoughts.

            "Hatter!" he sucked in a deep breath and shook his head, "Nothing that my machines picked up."

            Hatter gave Doormouse a searching look, "That's not what I asked.  Is there anything unusual about our Alice?"

            Dormie avoided Hatter's eyes for a moment, scrabbling for the right words, "I don't think I can explain it yet.  There's just - there's something funny about her that I haven't seen before…"

            "But?"

            "But it doesn't make any sense for the Casino to send her all the way out here if she weren't somehow wrong."

            "You just said she tested normal," Hatter tipped his hat further back on his head and shoved a piece of hair out of his eyes, "so what do you think's wrong?"

            "You don't think it's strange?"

            "Dormie, spit it out."

            "They named her Alice."

            "And?"

            "After Alice of Legend?"

\-----

One Month Earlier

            "Jack, my boy, I'm not saying that your mother is necessarily right, but appearance is everything and it does appear to the court that you have an unhealthy attachment to that Diamond."

            "So any attachment at all - is that what you mean, Father?" Jack's face had a practiced blankness, but his voice betrayed him, "and the Diamond's name is Alice."

            The king frowned and shuffled his feet.  He glanced over at the Club to his right in hopes of support, nodding his head towards his son.

            "What the king is trying to say, Jack, is that your mother is worried about you."

            "You'll forgive me if I don't rush to her side this instant," the king rolled his eyes at that, "I will see her tonight to discuss this further.  Now, please excuse me, I have business that requires my attention."

            Nodding politely to both his father and the Club, he straightened his tie and clicked the massive glass door shut behind him.

            The king sighed, his face lined and tired.  Next to him, the Club brushed imaginary dust from his black robes and smiled.

            "All in all, your majesty, I think that went rather well."

\-----

            Walrus and Carpenter were walking side by side, inspecting the gleaming steel components of their system when Jack slipped in through the door.

            "Your Highness, we weren't expecting you.  Is everything alright?" Carpenter reached into his breast pocket for his organizer.

            "I just wanted to see if Alice was free at the moment."

            "I believe so, yes.  Is she wanted for an assignment?" his fingers slid across the screen and he glanced at the information, "There's nothing listed for today for her."

            Jack shifted his weight.  If Carpenter didn't know better, he'd think the prince was embarrassed.  He could see Walrus about to say something, but Jack got there first, "I was just hoping she had a few minutes open.  I thought we could talk."

            "With a blank Diamond?" Walrus asked, clearly dubious, "I would imagine that would be a pretty one-sided conversation."

            "All the same, I would like to see her."

            Carpenter knew that the prince had a soft spot for the girl, and Carpenter had a soft spot for the prince, having seen the way he treated the Diamonds - like actual people instead of living dolls.  He nodded, gesturing towards the door that led to the Diamonds' rooms. 

            Jack could feel the two pairs of eyes on him as he crossed the room, could still feel them even after the heavy doors latched behind him.

            He didn't worry about what Carpenter and Walrus thought of him for this, but word was getting around much faster than he liked about his feelings for Alice.  How they were unseemly, or worse, laughable.  How could a Diamond, blank and malleable as a doll, have any sort of genuine opinions or feelings towards people?  Jack couldn't explain it, but as he walked past all of the people, vague in their default state, he knew Alice wasn't quite like any of them.  She was something else, something new.  It was exciting to him, and he hated to be apart from her for too long in case something happened.  He wanted to be there for all of her first steps.

            "Alice!" his face broke into a wide smile when he found her.

            She was by a window, her feet tucked up under her and her hands folded neatly in her lap.  Something outside the window had caught her attention, but at the sound of her name she turned.

            "Jack, hello," she said, "I followed a rabbit today.  In the garden?  But he was faster than I was."

            He sat down on the floor next to her, "I'm sure you'll catch him one day."

            Alice nodded, "After that, I ran laps to try to be better.  It's important to try to be one's best."

            "Absolutely."

            A hand on his shoulder jolted Jack from his thoughts, "Your Highness?  I'm glad I ran into you - Alice has a client for this evening into tomorrow afternoon."

            "A romantic engagement?"

            "As a judo instructor, actually," the woman smiled, "She's worked with this dojo before and the students found her approachable and pleasant, so when the normal instructor took leave…"

            Jack nodded, some small part of him relieved, "We'll be down right away."

\-----

            Alice always looked so content and trusting when she sat down in the chair, the little sticky pads affixed to her temples with wires running to a computer.  She glanced up towards Carpenter, who was fussing with some dials and typing rapid-fire commands.  After a moment of waiting patiently for him to turn, she asked, "Will this hurt?"

            "Just a pinch," the automatic response rolled off of his tongue easily.

            Alice seemed satisfied with that answer, closing her eyes and settling back in the chair.  She cracked one eye to look up at Jack, "After this, I think I would enjoy some tea."

            "I think that's an excellent idea," he said. 

            Alice closed her eyes again and Jack nodded to Carpenter.  He pressed one final key to begin the process, and instantly Alice let out a whimper, shaking slightly.  She winced and her hands became tight balls.  Jack had seen her go through this a thousand times and every time it hurt him just as much to watch her in pain.  After just a few moments, though, the tremors subsided and her face smoothed.  She raised her head and opened her eyes.

            "Hi there, handsome.  Are you one of my students for today?"

            "Yes."

            "Yes what?" she grinned, the expression strange and yet completely at home on Alice's face.

            "Yes, sensei?"

            "Much better.  Come on, time waits for no man!" he stood and held out his hand to help her up, "however fine he may be."

            Jack fought not to roll his eyes.  This was going to be a long assignment.

\-----

            "Are you ready for your treatment?"

            "Sounds like a stellar idea," Alice tapped her index finger on Jack's nose with a smile before standing up from her position straddling him, "And then after that, we'll have to work on your defense, because there is no reason a little thing like me should have been able to take you down that easily.  How have you survived in the big bad world this long?"

            "It's as much a mystery to you as it is to me," he stood and took her hand, leading her out of the now-empty dojo and over to the parked flamingo.

            "Always hate this part of the job.  Love the work, hate the commute," she said as she swung a leg over the seat and wound her arms around Jack's waist.

            Jack cocked his head to the side, "It's barely a ten minute flight - that's not that bad."

            "Not the time that's the issue, handsome.  It's the height."

            He flew the entire way as gently as possible, but he'd have been lying if he said he didn't love every time her arms tightened around him.

\-----

            "Did I fall asleep?"

            "For a little while."

            "Should I go now?"

            "If you like."

            Jack watched as Alice drifted out of the room, vague and complacent as always.  Once the doors had slid shut behind her and he was certain she wouldn't hear, he turned to Carpenter.

            "On our way back," he paused, wondering how to phrase it, "Alice…  She said she was afraid of heights.  How is it useful to include that in a Diamond's persona?  Wouldn't it be better to only include helpful attributes?"

            Carpenter smiled as he powered down the chair and the computers, "When we give the Diamonds a persona, we aren't just cherry picking traits to make perfect people.  They're as real as you or me while they're imprinted.  Everyone has faults, fears, fetishes.  Leaving those out…  It's just not right."

            "And my mother wants us to be sending out real people, instead of perfect ones?"

            "I worry less about what the Queen wants than most," Carpenter stopped what he was doing and fixed Jack with a look, something between concern and scrutiny, "and I think you do too."


	2. Chapter 2

            Jack had been half-asleep when he heard a tentative knock at his door.  He grumbled, hoping that if he ignored them, whoever it was would leave him alone.  The better part of the night had been spent tossing and turning for him, and he'd be damned if he was about to leap out of bed for what was probably one of his mother's toadies. 

            The knocking came again, louder this time, surer.  "Your Highness?"

            It was one of the women who worked with Walrus and Carpenter, the blue-eyed one who always reminded Jack of a bird for some reason. 

            "Highness, are you there?"

            There was nothing for it.  Jack threw back the covers and crossed the room to let her in.  "Do you need me for something?"

            She looked relieved - no one liked explaining to Walrus why they hadn't done something he asked them to do - and said, "Alice's schedule is being cleared of all engagements for the next week or so.  A lot of the Diamonds are, actually.  Half this week, half next.  Spring cleaning, as it were.  Checking to make sure none of them have cracked or picked up something nasty.  Not that we think they have, of course.  But - you know - better to be safe.  Can't be sending out broken Diamonds.  Reputations to think of."

            "Aah, thank you for letting me know, Miss - " the end of the sentence hung lamely as he realized he didn’t know her name.

            "No trouble at all, sir," she chirped with a smile.  It didn't seem to have fazed her or even caught her attention, "I'll be going now.  And in case you were wondering, Highness, the name's Finch." 

            The door swung shut behind her, the latch echoing around the room.  Spring cleaning for the Diamonds meant that, apart from the technicians, no one would be seeing any of them until the process was complete.  Not even he would be able to use his clout to get around that.  That was nothing new, it happened every year.  The only odd thing about it was -

\-----

            "Honestly, Mother?  What was the point in moving Spring cleaning up three months?  It's January - we never even start the process until the end of March at the earliest.  What possible reason could you have for throwing everyone's schedules off and irritating a lot of powerful clients?"

            "Jack, darling," the queen gave her son her most saccharine smile, somehow managing to still look like she was grimacing, "Walrus advised me that it would be wise to get a jump on things.  He said that some of the Diamonds were developing quirks, and it would be such a shame to ignore them and lose some of our highest earners to a little thing like cracking.  Don't you agree?"

            The prince wasn't an idiot.  He knew better than anyone the games the queen liked to play.  She would test people, test their loyalty to her and to the crown.  And he knew better than anyone the consequences for failing the test - had been present at too many beheadings to ever forget.  There was a delicate line he would have to walk with his mother. 

            "But the Diamonds, in their blank states, thrive on routine," he began carefully, "Isn't there a risk that altering the schedule this much may trigger some unfortunate reactions?  As you say, it would be a pity to lose any of them when it could be avoided.  There is a limited supply of actives suitable for work here, unless you know something I don't?"

            She laughed, a genuinely amused chortle.  "No, Jack, there are no large shipments of Diamonds coming anytime soon.  It has been far too long since we had a good war, and so prisoners of war are disappointingly scarce.  I've been beside myself, but your father assures me that anyone we have yet to declare war upon is hardly worth the effort."

            "And the Looking Glass?"  

            "Perhaps when you sit upon my throne, you may declare war on the Looking Glass world.  But for now, they are weak, disorganized.  It would be no fun at all.  No, my poppet, I have consulted with the geek boys who maintain our lovely Diamonds, and they agreed heartily that moving up Spring Cleaning was a splendid idea."

            And just like that, she had dismissed the only legitimate argument he could think of.  Whether she was telling the truth or not was irrelevant.  Pressing the issue now would be one step shy of suicidal, and he liked his head where it was, thank you very much.

            She went on, "Think of the next few weeks as a reminder that you have duties to consider beyond that of a Handler.  You are the heir to my throne, and your dedication to those duties has been somewhat lacking as of late.  Remember, Jack, that my love for you does not outweigh my love for our great Wonderland.  If you do not become the prince our world needs, and soon, you will leave me no choice but to take away that which distracts you."

            Her threat hung heavily in the air between them for a moment, and Jack didn't doubt that she would follow through on it.  In fact, he had a feeling it was coming no matter what he did.  His mind was already at work, but he showed no sign of it in his expression.

            "I understand, Mother.  I will take your advice into consideration," he said with a slight bow, his voice pitched to show just the right amount of solemnity.

            "That's all I ask of you, dear.  But remember, Jack," she said as he reached the throne room's doors, "we Hearts have room in our hearts for but one love.  If we are to rule this world, that love must be Wonderland."

\-----

            That night, Carpenter was shaken from sleep by a wild-eyed prince.

            "I need your help and I need it now."

            "Jack?  What are you even doing here?  What's happened that this can't wait until morning?" Carpenter sat up in his narrow bed, still bleary from sleep.

            The prince groaned with impatience, "There's no time for questions - I cannot access the Diamonds during Spring Cleaning, but you can.  You have access everywhere in their wing.  I have to get Alice out immediately, there's not a moment to lose."

            Carpenter shoved back his blanket and pulled on the yellow jacket he always wore.  As he stood up from the bed, he took his access card from its pocket and gave Jack a look of concern, "You'll be throwing away everything - you understand that?"

            His face broke into a wide smile, "So you'll help me, then?"

            "I am bound to the royal family.  I don't see how I can do otherwise," he did not share Jack's excitement, "Alice is in the chair right now, being cleaned.  I don't know what unhooking her mid-process will do to her mind - it's never been done before."

            "It'll be fine, I know it.  We don’t have a choice, not with my mother determined to cast her out."

            Carpenter led Jack to the room where Alice was as they spoke, his steps quick and silent.  When they reached her, he stopped and turned to the prince, "You'll have to run.  If you mean to escape the Queen, nowhere in Wonderland will be safe for Alice.  The Heart family has spies everywhere.  It'll have to be the Looking Glass."

            "A blank Diamond in the Looking Glass world?  Even with me there, it'll be dangerous."

            "Then she can't be blank, can she?" the man flicked a few switches and swung out the keyboard, fingers clacking away furiously, "Another first, imprinting a Diamond partway through Cleaning.  If she lives, I could write a new thesis on what I'll have learned."

            "If!"

            "Hush, I'm concentrating."

            There was a tense silence broken only by the sounds of the computer and then a small, pained cry from Alice.  When she opened her eyes, she looked at Jack with a curious smile and said, "Hi, I'm Alice Hamilton.  …have we met?"


	3. Chapter 3

            "Hamilton?" Jack looked at Carpenter, trying to decipher the man's expression, "That's not one of her usual imprints.  Wasn't that - "

            "My wife's last name?  You have a good memory."

            "You made your wife into imprint material?  You told me she died years ago!  There was a ceremony - is the woman we all mourned hooked up somewhere in that casino?"

            "Of course not," Carpenter snapped as he helped Alice to her feet, "Carol did die years ago.  But before that…she agreed to be the first test subject for a project I was working on.  Saving copies of people's personalities, their minds, everything, to a disk.  Think of the possibilities!  All of those people in the Casino - after one short session in the chair, they could all go home to their families.  We would have no need to capture people from their homes and keep them here until they die.  And it was an unqualified success, but less than six months later, Carol fell ill and - it wasn't related to the project at all, but no one would believe that.  I lost my wife and my chance to save all of those people in one, and Carol's imprint has been shelved ever since."

            "So is Alice…your wife right now?"

            Carpenter shook his head, smiling sadly, "I cobbled her imprint together from several people.  Skills pulled from most every imprint she's ever had.  She'll need everything I can give her if you two are going to make it.  No, right now she just has Carol's courage.  That and her stubbornness.  No more than a mother might pass on to her daughter."

            Jack nodded slowly and, with the sense that Carpenter had just entrusted him with something precious, took Alice's hand, "Do you trust me?"

            "Of course," Alice smiled at him like he had just said something so obvious it was funny. 

            "Then I need you to be as quick and as silent as possible, and to follow me," Jack tightened his hold on her hand and gave Carpenter one final nod of thanks before he took off at a run.

            They dashed through corridors dusty with disuse, their footsteps echoing hollowly.  Jack winced at every sound they made, but it was safest to take these back halls and service ways rather than chance the more direct paths where they could run into anyone.

            "Wait," Jack put out his arm to stop Alice just before they turned a corner, "Shh."

            Alice stopped short and instinctively flattened against the wall without a sound.  She was perfectly still but for her eyes, which were watching Jack and waiting for word that it was safe to continue.

            Seconds later, a couple walked down the hall they had been about to enter, giggling and draped over each other in an attempt to stay upright.  As they passed Jack and Alice, they left a cloud of alcohol behind them.  And something else - there was also the smell of Euphoria, one of the more popular teas.  Jack frowned.  He needed to get Alice away from all of this, this world where it was commonplace to hire out humans as dolls and where people were so high on borrowed emotions that they couldn't remember their own names.

            When they reached the Looking Glass, Jack wasn't surprised to find that no one was guarding it.  With no expected shipments coming in anytime soon, and no Diamonds scheduled for otherworld trips, it sat there, powered down and ignored. 

            "Jack?" Alice whispered, "What are we doing?"

            "Either something very brilliant or very stupid," he gave her hand a squeeze before stepping forward to examine the Looking Glass, "Let's hope it's the first one."

            It had been years since anyone had made a solid attempt on either the Casino or the Glass, and so security was lax.  He flipped open the plastic lid to a little compartment on one side of the Glass, and sure enough, there sat a ring, the Stone of Wonderland.  Jack smiled at their luck as he pressed down on the ring.  A soft hum, almost imperceptible, began to send ripples through the surface of the mirror until it looked like the surface of a lake disturbed by a breeze.

            Jack frowned, trying to recall how each of the controls for the Glass worked.  He had seen the technicians work it a thousand times, but he had never paid close attention to how they did it.  He wanted North America, he knew that.  They had contacts throughout most of the continent, scattered in the larger cities.  And he wanted sometime in the 2000s - he was fond of modern comforts.  He fiddled with dials and switches until he was reasonably certain he'd done it right, then held out his hand.

            "Follow me," he said.

            Alice nodded easily, slipping her hand into his.  Jack snatched the ring out of its slot and, before the Glass could shut down, threw himself and Alice through it.

\-----

            "Your Highness!  Are you alright?"

            Jack blinked as his vision swam back into focus.  It only took him a second to remember what had happened, and he jerked upright, his hands already reaching out to find Alice.

            "Where is she?" he spun towards the woman who had spoken and she shrunk back.

            "The girl you were with?  My partner carried her up to our apartment.  We weren't sure if she was ok, what with the things she was saying.  I stayed here to look after you until he returned."

            "What things?"

            "About finding her father, about someone named Carol?  And about keeping you safe.  That most of all.  But she wouldn't stop crying, and she was shaking like she was terrified, like she had never been through the Glass before," the woman paused for a breath, then turned back to Jack angrily, "What were you thinking, coming through unscheduled?  There should have been technicians waiting here to keep you safe!  A prince has no business risking his safety like this, and the safety of that poor girl!"

            Something about what the woman said rang a bell in his mind, about how Carpenter had said that Alice had some of Carol's traits the way a daughter might have traits of her mothers.  Jack filed away what she had told him to worry about later and instead felt a bubble of guilt rising up in his stomach at her words.  "There was little choice.  I need you to help me," he saw the tiny charm on her bracelet, a silver Mock-Turtle, and smiled, "You're part of the Resistance, aren't you?"

            The color began to drain from her face until Jack held up his hand.  On one finger, he wore the Heart signet ring.  But on the finger next to that, he wore a slim band stamped with an identical Mock-Turtle. 

            "Your Highness?"

            "That girl is a Diamond, and her name is Alice.  Alice Hamilton, at the moment.  She is in my care, and the Queen would see her killed.  I need your help keeping her hidden, miss - "

            "Violet, sir."

            "Miss Violet.  When Carpenter made Alice's imprint, I believe he implanted memories as well, and among them were memories of a woman named Carol.  I think Alice believes Carol to be her mother, so I must ask you - could you pose as Carol Hamilton and help me watch over her?"

            Violet tucked a short, brown curl of hair behind her ear, looking uncertain, "I can try, your Highness, but - "

            He cut her off, "Just Jack now.  I'm not a prince here, nor - I suspect - will I be one in Wonderland when my mother discovers what I've done."

            She nodded, realizing just what she had gotten herself mixed up in, "Then, Jack, I will do my best.

            The smile that broke out on Jack's face felt warmer, freer than he was used to.  He stood up, pleased that he didn't wobble or shake from the fall and extended a hand to pull Violet up from her spot on the ground.  He nearly pulled her into a grateful hug, but the woman looked shaken enough that that break from decorum might have tipped her over.  Instead, he shook her hand as enthusiastically as he could and asked, "May I go to Alice?"


	4. Chapter 4

            It was three weeks after they had crash-landed in the Looking Glass world and Jack still didn't know what Carpenter had done to Alice.  He wasn't sure how much of this was due to unhooking her during her Cleaning, but he had never seen her like this before.  Every imprint before had had a hint of falseness about it, something that clued him in if he looked hard enough.  Something would be a little too neat or memories would come off more like book reports than personal experiences.  But Alice Hamilton -

            If he didn't know better, he'd say she was real.

            And more dangerous still, he'd say he was in love with her.

            When he saw her for the first time after crossing through the Looking Glass, she had been a nervous wreck, taking deep breaths to calm her shaking.  She had looked up, eyes wide, and shot up from the couch, throwing her arms around him and clinging to him with her face buried in his shoulder.  He had stroked her hair, speaking in soft tones that he had gotten her home safely and that he would stay with her until her mother returned, if necessary.  She gave him a smile and thanked him.

            It had been so strange to him, standing outside of a bedroom that wasn't hers, waiting for her to change into bedclothes that were someone else's, and yet her brain would already be constructing memories of having lived there for years. 

            When she came out, dressed in a faded tee and soft flannel pants, her hair pulled into a loose braid, Jack could see how much more calm and comfortable she was.  The Diamond programming was clever, and already this was home to her.  Every moment spent here would cement the memories already being written into existence, and wasn't that for the best? 

            He had taken her by the hand and led her back over to the couch, where they had curled up together and watched a late-night mix of comedians and infomercials until Alice fell asleep against his chest. 

            On his way out from tucking her into what was now her bed, he had run into a man, middle aged with a thick, gingery beard and deep laugh lines.

            "Jack?"

            "Are you Leo?" he had asked him, and the man nodded. 

            "Violet told me what happened, that we're to help you look after the girl for a while.  And that I'm to call Violet Carol now.  Which I'm happy to do, don't get me wrong.  But I have to ask - why this girl?  What makes this Diamond special?"

            "I promise, Leo, if I knew, I would tell you."

\-----

            With a practiced movement, Alice tucked a section of hair back from her face and curled it behind her ear.  Her eyes slid away from the computer screen and up to the web she had set up on her bedroom wall, maps and photos and post-its with her sprawling handwriting. 

            "Honey, are you coming out?" her mother called from the kitchen. 

            The smell of pot roast was already filling the apartment, and Alice knew she should have been out to help ages ago.  No matter what she did, though, her mind always drifted back to this.  When she was at work, with her mother, running errands, driving - which probably wasn't the safest - an image kept popping up in her head.  A hazy, half-formed picture of a man named Robert, his curly hair thinning, in a yellow jacket, a concerned smile on his face and a watch on his wrist that was broken more often than not.  Her father.  But it didn't matter which database she searched, nothing useful ever came back.  It was almost like he couldn't be found, like he wasn't from this world at all.

            She grinned, maybe her dad was an alien. 

            "Alice, I'm serving now," Carol was starting to sound impatient, "If you don't come out, I'm drinking your wine too!"

            "Coming!" she laughed.

            Her mother looked up from the bowl she was ladling pot roast into, "I thought that might get you out.  What were you working on that had you so engrossed?"

            "Same as usual."

            "Oh, honey, again?" the smile fell from Carol's face, "I don't know that your dad is ever coming back.  It's been so long, he might not be the man you remember anymore."

            Alice took two glasses from the rack and started pouring the wine, saying quietly "I still have to try."

            Violet - Carol now - looked at the girl in front of her and thought to herself, Carpenter, what did you do to this poor thing?  Jack had made it clear that, while the queen lived, the two of them would have to stay here to be safe.  She and her partner, Leo, had done their best to set up a life here for Alice, everything from getting her a part-time job at the local rec center as a martial arts instructor to falsifying documents to setting up a facebook page with enough planted pictures and posts to convince anyone - even Alice herself - that she had lived in the city all her life.  She only hoped it was enough.

            "Mom?" Alice's voice broke through her thoughts, "Ground control to Mom, come in Mom."

            She laughed and shook her head - now who was engrossed in something other than what was happening right in front of her?

            Alice carried the two bowls over to the table while Carol ferried the wine.

            "So, you haven't asked me about Jack yet.  Aren't you at least a little curious?"

            "I'm your mother, I'm dying of curiosity!  But you're not a kid, so I'm waiting for you to tell me these things instead of badgering you."

            Alice grinned.  That was another thing she and Carol had in common - they were both curious to a fault, and she couldn't keep track of all the times it had gotten one or both of them into scrapes or awkward situations. 

            "So?  Is there anything you want to tell me about this mysterious Jack you keep ignoring me for?  Am I going to be the very last to meet him?  He's been in my home and I haven't even seen the boy.  Leo's met him, for crying out loud."

            "Leo's at the rec center all time time, of course he's met him.  And…he might be coming to dinner on Friday," she paused, checking Carol's expression, "if you're ok with that."

            "If I'm ok with that, she says," Carol rolled her eyes," We have nothing in to make dinner for him, you'll have to go to the market to pick up some things."

            "And that's a yes?"

            "It's a yes."

            "Yes!"


End file.
